Democrats for N.H. governor debate

Thursday

Sep 6, 2012 at 3:15 AMSep 6, 2012 at 5:34 AM

By NORMA LOVEAssociated Press

CONCORD — Jobs, the death penalty and New Hampshire's traditional pledge to veto personal income and sales taxes dominated an hourlong, televised debate Wednesday night by three Democrats running for governor.

Maggie Hassan and Jackie Cilley — two former state senators — and businessman Bill Kennedy tried to persuade voters in Tuesday's primary they deserved to replace retiring, four-term Democratic Gov. John Lynch.

Hassan emphasized the need for the state to support education to foster job growth. She touted her plan to restore state aid to the university system cut by Republicans. In exchange, she would ask that student tuition be frozen and more slots opened for resident students.

Cilley said business wants good roads, bridges and an educated workforce. New Hampshire isn't making investments in those areas, she said.

"There is no magic formula to job creation," said the 61-year-old Cilley, of Barrington.

The three took different positions on the state's traditional pledge to veto personal income and general sales taxes. New Hampshire has neither. Only one candidate has won the governor's seat since the pledge became a rite of passage in New Hampshire politics in the 1950s.

Hassan, 54, of Exeter, vowed to veto both taxes, arguing voters had told her how devastating they would be to the economy.

"I think voters need to know where candidates stand on important issues," she said.

Kennedy, 52, of Danbury, not only refused to promise to veto the taxes, he said he supports a flat-rate income tax to ease the burden on property and business taxpayers.

Cilley refused to take the pledge or say if she would embrace either tax. A clip of her television ad was shown that says those who take the pledge are zombies who refuse to discuss the needs of the state before ruling out revenue sources.

"Pledges are ways to shut down conversations," Cilley said.

All three said they oppose the death penalty and would have vetoed a law Lynch signed last year that expanded the state's death penalty to cover burglaries in response to a machete and knife attack that killed a New Hampshire woman and maimed her daughter during a home invasion.

Only Kennedy said he would commute death row inmate Michael Addison's sentence for killing Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs.

Hassan said capital punishment was the law when Addison was convicted. She and Cilley said they would not commute his sentence.

All three supported legalizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes. Hassan said she could support one high-end gambling casino on the border with Massachusetts; Cilley said she had not ruled out supporting expanded gambling; Kennedy opposed expanded gambling.

Cilley and Hassan criticized the outgoing Republican Legislature as too extreme for New Hampshire.

"This is the most extreme Legislature the state of New Hampshire has ever seen," said Cilley.

Hassan said she would try to work with Republican legislators if the next Legislature had similar beliefs, but would yield a veto pen when necessary.

The candidates faced off at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. The debate was on WMUR-TV. The Union Leader also sponsored the debate.

The Republican candidates debate tonight. They are Ovide Lamontagne, Kevin Smith and Robert Tarr.